


The Right Idea

by rainforestgeek



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: 1x11 promise, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25519423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainforestgeek/pseuds/rainforestgeek
Summary: “Adora’s gone! She defected! And I’m starting to think she had the right idea!”Alternate ending to 1x11 "Promise."
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 169





	The Right Idea

“We don’t have to go in there.”

Catra didn’t look back at Adora. She followed the ghosts of their childhood selves into Shadow Weaver’s sanctum. Making a last-minute decision, Adora bolted after her, grabbed her hand, and yanked her from the doorway.

“Hey!” Catra swiped at Adora but she dodged without letting go, a reflex honed from years of practice fighting and startling Catra.

“Do you really want to relive that? Wasn’t once enough?”

Catra scoffed. “It’s just a memory. I’m not afraid of Shadow Weaver anymore, are you?”

“Catra.” Adora cried. She dragged her farther from the sanctum. “I was _always_ scared of her.”

“ _You_ were scared of her?” Catra’s voice dripped with disbelief. “Her perfect little soldier? Whatever happened to, ‘You should show her more respect, Catra?’”

Adora took a steadying, frustrated breath through her nose. “Yes. I thought if I failed Shadow Weaver then she would’ve gotten rid of me, and then you. I was afraid, if I wasn’t perfect, she’d send us both to Beast Island to die.”

Catra yanked her wrist out of her grip. “At least you were given a chance. What made you so special? What did Shadow Weaver see in you that made her love you so much and never me?”

“I don’t _know!_ ”

“You were always her favorite and you liked it! Admit it! You liked being better than me at everything!”

“That’s not true – ”

“Even after you _abandoned_ us, she was still proud of you. She still wanted you back as a force captain.” She stalked towards Adora, getting up in her face. “You wanna know why I gave back the sword? To get rid of you! To never have to stand in your shadow again!”

Adora staggered back a step. Catra’s yell echoed around the crystal palace, the background of the Fright Zone flickering in and out. Her heavy breaths landed hot and angry on Adora’s face. Heterochromatic eyes narrowed when she didn’t respond and Catra’s breaths slowed.

When she straightened and began to turn away, Adora flung herself forward and caught her shoulders in a vice grip. She struggled in vain. “Do you really want me gone that badly?”

“Yes, obviously. I swear all that glitter magic is destroying your brain.”

“What’s keeping you with the Horde, Catra? Really? Do you still need to prove yourself to Shadow Weaver?”

“Shut up!” Catra started wriggling her way out of Adora’s grip, so she backed her up against a wall and pinned her in place.

“We don’t need her approval. She’s dark, and twisted, and evil, and I don’t know why she favored me and not you. It doesn’t make sense. But she’s _wrong._ Catra, you’re the strongest person I’ve ever known. You can leave all this behind.”

“Why would I do that?” Catra snapped. This is what she was like – she dug her heels in. Only she would to decide if she wanted to be convinced. “With you gone, I’m finally gaining respect in the Horde. I’m rising in the ranks.”

“Because the Horde isn’t helping you, it’s holding you _back_. They only deal in fear, not respect. Real respect is out there in the rest of the world, waiting to be earned.”

“And what? Go be your hero sidekick?” Catra sneered. “We were supposed to be in this _together_ , Adora!”

“We are!”

“But you won’t come back with me to the Horde.”

“I can’t watch you torture yourself like that. That’s the only thing worse than missing you.”

“Well congratulations, Adora, you didn’t have to see me take the fall for you when you left!”

“I'm _sorry._ " Adora poured all the sincerity in her soul into those two words. "I should've let you come. I didn't think about the consequences you would face. So please, come with me now."

Catra snarled, tears forming in her eyes. "Don't act like you need me."

Adora responded by pinning her body even more securely to the wall with her own. "Of course I need you. You're my best friend. And the rebellion..." Adora took a calculated risk. Catra had made some terrible decisions, yes; but the girl she grew up with had to still be in there behind all that anger. "The rebellion is struggling. If you join us, we'll stand a real chance at taking down Hordak and Shadow Weaver." 

Catra hissed at her, but Adora could hear the waning venom in the sound. Her resolution was weakening. "We could…I could really use your help. You’ve always wanted the chance to prove yourself and you will. But you don’t have to do that under Hordak’s thumb.”

“Forget Hordak." Catra was panting Adora's exhaled air. "Forget Shadow Weaver and the war and the rebellion. Pretend it really is just you and me against the world, like you promised before. Why wasn’t I enough for you to stay?”

“Why wasn’t I enough for you to leave?”

That seemed to give her pause. Surprise flashed through her eyes. Then they hardened, steel walls shuttering over the vulnerability there.

“I don’t need you to protect me anymore, Adora.”

She felt her friend slipping away through her fingers. She released her and stepped back. “Fine. Then go someplace you don’t need protecting. I want…I want you back. But more than that I want you safe, so please, don’t go back to the Horde.”

Long pause. Distressed sounds came from the sanctum behind Catra, threatening to fling her back into one of her worst memories. They were steadfastly ignoring that this was the day Catra found out she was worth nothing without _Adora._

“Nothing’s going to change, you know. If I join the rebellion then I’m just going to be second-best to you again.”

Adora shocked her by laughing. “Catra, I’m not even tenth best in that place. Everyone there is smarter than me, just like you always were. All I’m good for is punching stuff.”

The flush of pride Catra felt at her words irritated her. She smirked. “You _did_ try to rescue Princess Sparkles by letting yourself get caught.”

Adora’s face fell. “And we lost Entrapta.”

“Lost?” It was Catra’s turn to laugh. “Is that what you’re calling it now? Did you ‘lose’ me, too?”

Utter betrayal shadowed her face. “What are you talking about?”

“Entrapta’s in the Fright Zone,” she said lazily. “She thinks you abandoned her.”

“She’s not dead?”

Catra pulled her loot from her belt pocket and examined it. “Obviously not, or I wouldn’t be here collecting weird computer crystals.”

A mix of panic and relief burned in Adora’s chest. “I have to tell the others!” She sheathed the sword along her back. “Maybe I can’t heal Glimmer, but if Entrapta’s alive there’s still hope for the rebellion. Come on, let’s find the way out.”

“Yeah sure, go play the hero again.”

Adora whirled on her. “Come _on_ , Catra, you know how cruel the Horde is! You were on the receiving end of it more than anyone. The Horde is spreading _that_ pain everywhere and every time I see another child’s home destroyed – ” her breath hitched “ – all I can think about is how I didn’t protect you when we were kids like I promised.”

Catra had vague memories of being orphaned. Clinging to someone’s soft chest with their arms around her, and them both falling to the ground. Dust and noise and confusion. Scrambling to find someplace to hide.

Apparently they’d found her crouched in the storage container of a skiff after a raid. The soldiers brought her to Shadow Weaver since she was the only one who knew anything about children and Adora had immediately clung to her, saying “Cat rah, cat rah,” which is how she got her ridiculously on-point name. Even back then Adora was saving her life; Shadow Weaver only kept her because of Adora, a fact the witch had had no problem throwing in her face for years.

She must have had parents, before. She didn’t remember them, exactly, but she remembered missing them with an ache that’d made her angry at the world. For the first time in fifteen years, she let herself think about them and the life she would have had being raised by her real family instead of Shadow Weaver. It was a strange, surreal thought. Who would she have been now?

 _Who would I be without Shadow Weaver?_ The thought doused her like a cold splash of ice water. It made the fur on the back of her neck prickle.

Free. She would be free without Shadow Weaver.

Burgundy flashes caught the corner of her eye. She turned her head to the open door of Shadow Weaver’s sanctum, where the blackness was dissipating. There was her younger self, paralyzed and floating by Shadow Weaver, and a just-as-small Adora putting her body between them. Her arms were flung wide open with her little chest exposed.

“LET GO, ADORA.” The voice echoed through the entire place. “YOU MUST LET GO.”

The memories dissolved. The Fright Zone flickered and vanished, exposing Adora and Catra to three hundred and sixty degrees of advancing giant spiders. Catra crouched, ready to tear through the lot of them.

“No!” Adora grabbed Catra’s hand. Her expression could have made a war bot curl up and cry. “I left Catra once, Light Hope, and I will not do it again, even if I have to rip my way every last spider you can throw at me!”

Catra dropped the data crystal in shock. Everything halted. The lights glowed brighter. The spiders dissolved into nothingness. The walls faded from blood red to shades of blue. Silence echoed throughout the space.

They both looked down at the ground.

“Seriously? All I had to do was drop the freaking crystal?”

Adora shrugged, bemused. She picked up the violet data crystal. “I guess I should put this back.” She started walking and realized that she was still holding Catra’s hand. They let go at the same time.

They said nothing as Adora replaced the data crystal and they walked out of the crystal palace.

“So. Which way to Bright Moon, princess?”

Adora felt her heart skip a beat. “You’re coming?”

Catra sauntered up to her, scowl still on her face, and poked her forehead. “You’re such an idiot.”

She recognized the phrase for what it meant. "Yeah. I know."


End file.
